Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow of Shir Hadash Synagogue in Wheeling prepares for an upcoming trip to India. -photo by Ernest J. Schweit (Posted By office37, Community Contributor)

office37, Community Contributor

Rabbi Eitan Weiner-Kaplow of Shir Hadash Synagogue in Wheeling will join a delegation of 18 other American rabbis next month when he visits India with the American Jewish World Service, a New York-based human rights group focused on eliminating poverty in developing nations.

“This is an opportunity for me to see the work of AJWS,” Weiner-Kaplow said, “and also to see India and see the range of situations, from poverty to great wealth and to see how AJWS as an NGO (non-governmental organization) helps people in need.”

Adina Mermelstein Konikoff, program director for AJWS, said Weiner-Kaplow was selected from a field of more than 60 applicants.

"It was a really competitive field,” she said. “We considered who would be a strong partner as a rabbinic leader to talk about the work of AWJS, the work we support around the world,” she said. “We felt that Rabbi Eitan would be a strong partner and would be able to do that for us.”

From July 21-31, Weiner-Kaplow and the delegation of Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist, and Orthodox rabbis will stay in Lucknow, the capital of the province of Uttar Pradesh, in northeast India near the Ganges River.

The rabbis will meet with local policy-making officials and work at a local primary school, where they hope to build relationships with local residents. Konikoff said.

“They'll be working to repair some things they requested,” she said, including kitchen and sewer improvements and installing benches.

“They will build relationships in a way that really doesn't happen when you sit around the table,” she said.

There will also be time for studies and learning,

Weiner-Kaplow and his fellow delegates will likely see a diverse population living in a wide range of conditions. The World Bank estimates that 70 percent of the population in Uttar Pradesh lives below the poverty line, although local officials place that number at between 28 and 40 percent.

Despite its poverty, Lucknow itself is considered a growing center of commerce, culture, and art in northern India.

The AJWS has shifted its focus from eliminating poverty to improving human rights, Weiner-Kaplow said.

“It seems like the philosophy of helping those impoverished has changed and matured from 'These people need food and we should bring them all food' to a philosophy that 'They need human rights, they need to be empowered and connected to the political system.' ”

Weiner-Kaplow hopes the delegation can raise that issue with local policy-makers. “It’s more than basic needs if we are going to solve this situation,” he said.

“On a philosophical level, I am looking forward to this eye-opening experience, more than just for seeing India, but understanding how Tikkun Olam work can make a difference. On a practical level, I am looking to bringing back lessons that will help the work we do at Shir Hadash when we reach out as Jews and help others. I find it very exciting.”